The canister filter has been in use for decades. Freshwater aquarists were the first to make use of them and they still do. Then along came the marine aquarium and the canister filter was employed to support those to. Canister filters have been around for so long that they are now very dependable and failures are rare.

There is a scientific term used which is called ‘the [tag-tec]gradient concept[/tag-tec]’. This term basically describes how various marine organisms can be graded according to the amount of light which they receive. There are two zonal categories which are most commonly used, these are the exposed and

Mud bed filtration is similar to that of other sand based filtration systems, however the substrate is made of such a small grain size that it is like mud. A good filtration method to equate a mud bed to is the refugium.

In the refugium method macro algae is grown in the fine sand. The mud bed filtration system is effectively the same, however instead of sand mud is used. It is not just normal mud though, it is a mud which is full of various elements and minerals. These elements and minerals are slowly released from the mud into the water column.

A deep sand bed is probably one of the most common additions to live rock filtration utilised within the marine aquarist world at the moment. The other is called a plenum which I will cover in a future post.

A lot has been discovered over the years in relation to sand beds perhaps the biggest of which is the importance of the sand particle size and the depth of the bed.

In this post I will cover what I believe to be the most powerful form of filtration currently available to the saltwater aquarist. I agree that this aspect of filtration may not be for everyone, however by understanding what natural filtration is and how it works then you can implement the type of filtration which is best for you.

There are various types of natural based filtration available – all of which never ceases to amaze me. The diversity of organisms which is in the aquarium is huge, to me these are just as interesting as the fish and corals which we keep. There have been numerous times when I have been sat in front of the aquarium when all the lights are out with a torch (with a red bulb in it) staring into the aquarium watching all the life go about its business.

We’ve all seen salt water aquariums in books and on the internet as well as in our homes. They come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, some being enormous, then all the way down in size to a nano aquarium. Whatever size they are and whether they are fish only or reef, they rely on nature’s life support system, the nitrogen cycle.

Any aquarist needs to basically understand the nitrogen cycle. There is no requirement to become a scientist, just know what is going on. Then the dangers of stressing the aquarium will be better realized (as an example overfeeding, perhaps the main problem with fledgling aquarists?).

During my hours lunch break at work I decided to pop to my local fish shop to have a look around and have a cup of coffee with the owner and have a break from the pressures of work – it’s amazing how looking at salt water aquariums can take all the stress and pressure away.

Anyway whilst I was there chatting to the owner I overheard a couple of people talking – one of them was obviously thinking about starting a reef tank and they were chatting about marine aquarium filtration.